Just Like Heaven
by Hime
Summary: When Riki wakes... Iason x Riki, post OAV


Disclaimer: _Ai no Kusabi _so does not belong to me...

_Written for the October 12 prompt "Angel of the Morning" from the 31days livejournal community. I have other drabbles/oneshots for this community on my lj that I probably won't be posting here so if you're interested in reading them, I have the link up on my profile._**  
**

* * *

Just Like Heaven  
by: Hime

* * *

When Riki wakes, he feels at peace with himself, something he had yet to feel for the last 5 years. He opens his eyes, slowly, savoring this illusive feeling and stares right into Iason's strong, blue gaze. At once, memories flash through his mind, sweeping everything but confusion away.

"We died." Riki says haltingly, face screwed up in remembrance.

Iason pulls the other man to his chest, tucking Riki's head under his chin, holding him tight against himself. Though they are both nude and their bodies are flush against each other, there is no sexual connotation, but rather one of comfort and peace.

"Yes." he says simply.

Overcome with emotion, Riki turns his face to the side and closes his eyes as tears flow down unchecked.

* * *

When Riki wakes several days, month, years later (time passes so quickly here, flowing into each other until neither can keep track of it), he asks Iason (who is always awake before Riki, staring down upon him with gentle eyes) if this was heaven. Riki's voice lowers unconsciously at the last word, though he is not religious in the least. There is no religion in Ceres, just the knowledge that you must do whatever you need to do to survive.

"I think," Iason says, drawing his words out slowly as if taking great consideration before speaking them, "that heaven depends on each individual person. Because every person's idea of heaven is different from another's."

Riki blinks up at the blond man before smirking.

"And for you, heaven means no clothes?"

* * *

When Riki wakes, he can't help but to wonder about where the two of them were exactly. They always woke up in a lush field of flowers, with a grove of a trees (Iason had told him that they were some kind of fruit trees, a fruit that had grown on the first planet, but one that they had never been able to duplicate on Amoi. It really didn't matter at all to Riki, as long as they tasted good.) to the back of them.

"If this is heaven, where is everyone else? Shouldn't there be other people here with wings or something?" Riki finally asks one day, as Iason holds the round, red fruit to his lips. At Iason's urgings, Riki bites into the firm flesh and is rewarded with a sharp, sweet taste on his tongue, juice flowing down his chin. Without pause, Iason bends his head toward Riki's and licks the line of juice from his face. When he finishes with his ministrations, Iason looks into Riki's eyes.

"I don't need anyone else. Just being with you makes this heaven."

Riki doesn't know how the man before him can say something so ridiculously lame, so utterly _gross _with such a straight face and with such obvious sincerity. Still he can't help but feel so pleased that he jumps Iason, arms and legs wrapping around him as he attempts to suck out the other man's tonsils through his mouth.

* * *

When Riki wakes he stretches his limbs out like a housecat, and even makes a noise which could have easily passed for a purr. He opens his eyes to see Iason, as always gazing down at him.

"Morning,"

Instead of answering, Iason bends down to capture Riki's lips. They kiss softly, almost chastely, just gentle brushes of lips against lips. Riki can feel Iason's smiling as they kiss over and over again.

Riki is just about ready to deepen their kisses when Iason pulls back sharply. Confused, Riki looks at the other man who has the strangest expression on his face.

"What? What is it?"

Iason reaches out to Riki, laying one hand on his cheek, his mouth moving in his reply, but there is no sound. Abruptly, he just disappears, leaving nothing behind except for the lingering warmth of his kiss.

"Iason? Iason!" Riki scrambles up and spins around, trying to see if he could see a hint of the missing man. He runs towards the grove, and almost falls as he steps on fallen fruit. Over and over he calls out with no reply. Riki doesn't know what to do or what to think. Where had Iason gone, would he come back? If it had been heaven with the two of them there, now that he was alone did this make this idyllic scene hell?

At the thought, something happens. Suddenly, Riki feels a tug, a pull from somewhere in his chest. 'What now?' he thinks. But the feeling comes on stronger, causing him to close his eyes in pain. He wraps his arms around himself, and huddles close to the ground as blackness fills his consciousness.

* * *

When Riki wakes, he panics for a moment, thinking he's blind, before he realizes, that no, he can't see because his eyes are closed. He rests for a moment, feeling the heaviness of his body, of his mind. When he tries again, his body obeys his commands and a white ceiling appears, fuzzy along the edges, before him.

He hears a gasp for air before a face thrusts itself in front of him.

"Riki," the man not Iason says to him, "you're awake."

Riki stares at the pale face, the red hair, the scar that travels down one cheek before a name appears in his mind. He feels that it's been forever since he has last seen Katze.

"We died." Riki finally says, his voice breaking at the last word. He winces, partly at the sound of his voice, partly because his throat is so sore, parched as if it had been years since he has last drank any liquid.

"Yes." Katze replies, a small smile hovers on his face, just the corners of his lips turned up. "We brought you both back."

Overcome with emotion, Riki turns his face away and closes his eyes as tears flow down unchecked.

..:fin:..

…_so much for our happy ending_...

* * *

Author's Note: Okay, so like yeah, normally I am a big "happy ending" fan. You can blame the romantic in me. However, in AnK I think the happy ending _is_ the two of them being dead. With all the baggage they both carry, one being a mongrel the other an Elite plus all the opposition they face, I don't think they could ever truly be happy together alive, even though they both did love each other. However, in death it might have been possible for the two to find happiness with each other. That's not to say I don't enjoy reading fanfiction of the two of them being revived, this is just my own interpretation of their love story.


End file.
